by Drew Hayes
Though “enemy of my enemy” wasn’t the most original reason to lend aid, it was one Lozora could wrap her head around. Desperation formed strange alliances; she’d seen that borne out a great many times through her unnatural life. Besides, it wasn’t as if she had some item or information worth stealing. With her employer disposed of, Lozora would have to start all over again. Perhaps this next time, she’d take a few solo jobs to build up some funds, then form her own crew.
“The way you say villain, I take it to mean you’re part of the club.” This meta-suited fellow was clearly not Fornax—aside from him being broadcast on television for everyone to see, he would never hide in a fake identity when a real fight presented itself. Plus, Fornax shouldn’t even know she’d had a hand in trapping him and his daughter. Nevertheless, it didn’t hurt to sniff around, just in case.
“Only in the most technical sense. I made it through initiation, haven’t really done much since then. Getting access to backup is great, though. Makes this life not so scary, having people to turn to, especially considering how capable some of them are.”
There was no arguing that point. Even Alfred—such a strange name to put to the man she’d known all these weeks—had acknowledged the strength of the guild. That was why he’d taken pains to keep them busy. Finding herself suddenly helpless and in need of aid, Lozora was less dismissive of the notion than normal. “You may be right. Perhaps it’s time I gave consideration to the benefits of working together.” Turning down a new hallway, they were nearly to the stairs, which Lozora’s leg was already groaning about.
“You should know up front, getting in isn’t without risk. Some of tests can kill you, and even with the help of mentor, there’s no promising you’ll make it through.”
Lozora bit back a scoff only by necessity; she couldn’t risk offending the person hauling her around. “I’ve been on the scene longer than this admittedly embarrassing situation might indicate. Normally, I’m quite a force to be reckoned with. The man was simply... anomalous.” Some metas were just too strong. The world didn’t play fair, not every fight was winnable. Learning that early on was one of the keys to surviving in their world.
Round a new bend, only to find a pile of moaning bodies and huge, torn-out chunks of wall blocking the path. “Crap, looks like Medley or Bahamut got rowdy over here. We’ll have to circle around.” Together, they continued back down the last hall, passing the turn-off to the blockade. There was another set of stairs at the far end of the building, made for fire emergencies. Not as spacious, but it would work, or failing that, a window could allow them to fly out.
Lozora was so lost in thoughts of escape, she didn’t quite notice the way Hephaestus adjusted his grip on her, the same way he’d had to several times already. That this movement also shifted the position of his gauntlet ever so slightly was a detail that would have grabbed her attention on a day with less occupying her mind.
At last, they neared the edge of the hallway, one that would give them access to the outside. Lozora felt so thrilled, her leg even seemed to stop hurting for a moment. “Seems as if we’re fr—”
The sound of blasting energy and sizzling flesh interrupted Lozora, followed swiftly by horrific pain rising out of what used to be the middle of her torso. She collapsed, already dying, yet kept conscious by her own damned durability, which even now struggled to save what was plainly lost.
“Like I mentioned, the guild sometimes gives mentors to new members. Some are better than others, and at first, I thought mine was a terrible fit. Still might be, on a technical level. But Fornax has been the only person consistently in my corner since a very long time ago, and we do share at least one core philosophy.” Hephaestus paused, looking right into the dying eyes of Lozora.
“Actions have consequences. You fucked with my mentor, which was bad, but understandable. Then you brought his kid into it. So you don’t get to die in a grand battle or display. You don’t deserve to face a living legend and fall by his hand. Your ending is here, led to a hallway far enough away that the capes wouldn’t have arrived in time, even if they had heard the shot. Die alone, helpless, knowing you’ll be forgotten, and understand that this is still getting off easy.”
Hephaestus couldn’t fathom what Ivan would have done in her place. Something more creative, and certainly more painful, but she was working with what she had. An energy beam at point-blank range left minimal room for delicacy. Didn’t hurt to be safe, so Hephaestus headed back to a section where bodies were piled up. From one, she rooted around and produced a gleaming object, its sharpness flashing in the flickering hallway lights.
Who brought a machete to a meta-fight in the first place? Well, it wasn’t like she had room to complain. This would make hauling out her second prize of the day much easier. Moving swiftly, Hephaestus hurried back to the corpse, already aware of the wicked work that awaited her.
The stream cut out just before Ivan turned away from the camera, forcibly reasserting control. That had been a dangerous dance. More than once, his darker impulses threatened to overwhelm the proceedings, but the staged nature of the pageantry helped Ivan keep his head straight. Having a pseudo-script kept his mind on the next task, prevented it from reveling in the pain of the moment.
Across the chamber, the giant doors parted to reveal Doctor Mechaniacal and Xelas, both of whom were splattered in some of the Wrexwrens’ internal workings, though neither looked nearly as much of a fright as Ivan.
“How are we doing?” Ivan asked.
“Based on reports from the ground, the initial invasion waves broke against our shores as expected. Most have already been killed or captured. How well they’re being treated depends on who snatched them up. There are a few still trying to go down in a blaze of glory, but mostly the AHC is now dealing with humans who sought to take advantage of the confusion.”
Stepping in, Xelas added, “Plus, we blew up every ship in our solar system not originating from Earth, so there are no reinforcements to send.”
“Which just leaves...” Ivan trailed off, looking up to the screen overhead. The Scralthor was retreating; there was no other possible interpretation of the situation. This massive beast was sent fleeing by the burning light coursing through the stars. In a very odd way, Ivan felt kinship with the creature. He knew that feeling, that fear, it was experiencing far too well. “Seems Lodestar has the Scralthor handled.”
“Which means she’ll soon turn her attention to Earth, and us, so we should be gone before then,” Doctor Mechaniacal suggested. “Anyone need to use the restroom before we get in the ship? Mostly looking at you, Fornax, as you’re the only flesh-and-blood body up here.”
It took some doing for Ivan to tear his eyes away from the screen. Seeing her like this stirred up a lot of memories, not that this was the appropriate time for any of them. Ivan yanked his gaze away, looking to his allies. “I’ll hold it somehow. It’s not like we’ve got a long trip.”
Together, the three of them hurried through the vessel, occasionally passing scenes of grim carnage telling the story of what happened to the ship’s remaining crew. Evidently, he hadn’t been the only one cutting loose up here. Ivan couldn’t even imagine what sort of havoc the guild as a whole had wreaked upon their targets.
No sooner was Doctor Mechaniacal’s ship safely out of range than the final Wrexwren vessel detonated, blast briefly lighting the sky before it became nothing more than a mass of floating wreckage. Some would make it to Earth, but the AHC had systems in place to break up any chunks that were too large, so they’d burn up one way or another. That would be the final reminder of the Wrexwren invasion: a bastion of debris that occasionally lit the sky when a piece tumbled into the atmosphere.
It was, to Ivan’s thinking, exactly the sort of memorial he wanted. A clear warning to any extraterrestrials who came calling of what they could expect from starting trouble with the planet called Earth.
Chloe’s eyes snapped open without warning, followed by her drawing a large gasp of air, d
espite the fact that she’d been breathing steadily the entire time. It was like she’d burst forth from a deep pool, blinking at the sudden onslaught of light and sound.
In seconds, Beverly was there, holding her friend steady by the shoulders in case of vomit.
It took a few seconds for Chloe to come all the way back, to leave that unreal place fully behind. She wasn’t sure she succeeded, in truth. Something felt different from before, like she was more connected to whatever systems her power influenced. She worked hard to put that out of her mind for the moment, along with deeper concerns of what she’d seen. Chloe was neither cape nor villain, and had no serious desire to be either—at least, for the moment. Digging into the sorts of questions her vision raised would invariably drag her deeper into that world, so she simply chose to ignore it. Sometimes, the classic tactics were still the best.
Able to pay some attention to her surroundings, Chloe realized they weren’t at the apartment, or a hospital. For a fleeting moment, she was seized with terror that Beverly, unaware of what else to do, had brought her to the guild. That notion was quickly dispelled. She didn’t imagine the guild guest quarters to have a huge antique sewing machine, or pictures of family that bore a striking resemblance to Beverly.
“What happened? Where are we?”
“My guess on what happened is you used too much power in a short span of time. I don’t think we’ve ever heavily cycled your sayings like that before—might be a toll, though you’d know better than me on that front.” Beverly paused, looking around her surroundings as if seeing them for the first time. “As to where... I wasn’t sure what to do with you. Everything seemed stable, but you wouldn’t wake up. I figured step one was to get you somewhere safe, a place I could trust, then find someone to help once they wrapped up dealing with the invasion.”
Loud noises came from some ways outside the door, a commotion of bustling and voices all yelling over one another, until a quiet one silenced them all. Beverly, looking more sheepish than Chloe had ever seen her, seemed to take that as a cue to press on. “I brought you to my family’s house. A few of them have field medic training, in case you took a turn for the worse, and there are enough munitions to drive back an actual force of aliens, let alone the scraps wandering the streets.”
Chloe was still moving sluggishly, like her energy couldn’t catch momentum. Realizing where some of that juice might be flowing, she hurriedly switched her active saying. “A penny saved is a penny earned.” The change wasn’t instantaneous, but there was a change. Instead of her power flowing out of her like a sinking rowboat, it felt more akin to a giant jug, one where the overflow began to accumulate. While she wasn’t suddenly bursting with gusto, the dull ache in her head did quickly vanish.
“Where are the others? Did everyone make it out okay?”
The pain that flickered across Beverly’s face gave away the ending of her tale before the first word was spoken. “We won, in a way. But there was a price.”
Before the conversation could spiral into the true depths of despair, noise rose from outside once more, this time closer to the door. Beverly looked from her patient to the room’s entrance, visibly doing speedy mental math on how this would play out. “It wasn’t Tori. I’ll explain the rest later. For now, it looks like it’s time to meet the family.”
Perhaps on cue, the door burst open and nearly a dozen people poured through, all eager to meet Beverly’s newest friend, and perhaps discuss why their kin had arrived in the shape of a flying dragon.
Chapter 125
Upon return to the guild, Ivan was both surprised and grateful to hear that Tori was waiting for him in his office. Pausing only long enough to call Janet, checking in to be sure his kids were safe, Ivan hurried to the designated meeting space, one he rarely had use for in these facilities. It wasn’t as if Pseudonym welcomed many callers, or made efforts to. He truly hoped that wouldn’t change now that Fornax had made a special appearance, but life had taught him the world was rarely so kind.
The first thing he noticed after walking through the door was the state of her armor: banged up, missing a gauntlet, and with more than a few pieces torn out, exposing bits of wiring. The second thing he noticed, which should have been the first, was the burlap sack oozing a green puddle on the corner of his desk.
“What... who is that?” Ivan had seen enough decapitated heads to know what they looked like when stuffed into a bag. Why one was on his desk was a genuine mystery, on the other hand. Tori had been expected to lay low during the invasion. If things turned messy, that would be understandable, but it didn’t account for why she would bring a severed head to him like this.
“It’s a thank-you present,” Tori explained. “For everything you’ve done. For being around even after the mentorship ended and you didn’t have to. For teaching me how to be a villain.”
After a day like this one, Ivan had more or less run out of tolerance for things like cryptic hints. He opened the bag himself, stunned in confusion by the unexpected bolt of familiarity. “Lozora?” Ivan’s head shot up, looking Tori over in a brand new light. “How... Tori, did you kill her?”
“I had some help. Her employer pulled the oh-so-shocking double-cross and left her injured. I took advantage of her weakness and confusion, then blasted a hole through her middle. The head was easier to transport. Plus, it just felt right, considering the context.”
The context? Tori had no idea about the context this implied. Lozora was not some no-name minion. She’d been around for decades, and that was before being hurled into Rookstone. His former apprentice had just taken out an actual player in their game, the sort of move others would take note of, to say nothing of the allies who might come looking for payback.
“I see. Mind if I ask how, exactly, this is a present for me?” Troublesome as it all was, Tori was nothing if not rational. With everything she did, there was a reason. What remained to be seen was if it was a good one, or not.
Any traces of a smirk fell from Tori’s face as she looked back to the bag. “Her employer was the mystery man who set up that whole Starscout-labyrinth situation, and that green bitch was the trigger-woman. She’s the one who put Beth in danger.”
Whatever trains of thought Ivan had been engineering were instantly knocked off-track by that revelation. It changed a great many things about the circumstances, including how much fallout he would allow to get near Tori. Killing wantonly wasn’t something he’d wanted to encourage, but paying back what was owed? That was a different matter entirely. “Tell me everything.”
Which was exactly what Tori did, laying out the labyrinth voice’s cryptic hints, the visit from Nexus, the attack on her apartment, and the revelation regarding Alfred Settler, a tidbit which actually managed to draw surprise from Ivan when it was reached. She wrapped things up by explaining how the fight ended, quickly detailing her moment of thievery followed by tricking Lozora, then escaping. The only bits she may have skimmed over were those involving Chloe’s power, where possible.
“Damn.” As she spoke, Ivan had pulled some plastic wrap from in his desk, coating the head-bag and putting triple layers on his desk to prevent more general ooze drippage. “Some capes dying today was inevitable, but I’d have preferred all of the blame to be on the wiped-out aliens. At least this guy wasn’t one of ours. If anything, we can cite our members who offered critical help in dealing with him.”
“Did you know about him? Alfred Settler?”
Ivan finished cleaning the head juice and wiped off his fingers, exuding a moment of magic to burn his hands clean—not that the rest of him wasn’t still coated in Zerle Salvrin’s internal workings. From within his desk, he produced a bottle of fine liquor, one he reserved for special occasions. “I knew about Alfred Settler in the same way as everyone else: a piece of history that died in our new world’s creation. The meta you’re describing rings a bell. We crossed paths here and there—I once had to belt him to send a message, but I punched a lot of people in my heyday. He wasn’t part o
f the Order of the Final Dawn, though, meaning I never had any reason to care beyond that.”
“So you wouldn’t know... or maybe, could make a guess...”
“I have no idea if he’s alive or not,” Ivan intervened, saving her from finding a way to ask the question without sounding afraid. Of course she was afraid. Tori was too smart to experience something like that and not better understand her place in the world. She was stronger than humans, yes, but in the world of metas, Hephaestus was still barely starting out. Understanding the difference between what power lay at the summit and how much she could muster would make anyone afraid. “Were I to guess, I’d say yes. Doesn’t seem like the type to need air or food, and given the durability you’ve described, space alone may not finish the job. That said, while he might still be alive, Alfred has effectively been taken out.”
From another drawer, Ivan produced a pair of glasses, setting them both down in succession. Tori watched the act, waiting until he was about to pour before speaking. “Just a sip for me. I’ve got more work after this.”
With a nod, he poured her enough for one toast—all they would need. As he moved on to his own glass, which got substantially more, Tori continued, “How do you figure he’s gone, if he might not be dead?”
“Between our respective run-ins and the general rumors I’ve heard of such a figure, he has no movement-based powers to speak of. No flight, no teleportation, nothing that would permit him to navigate the far reaches of space. If he is alive, he’s stuck out there, waiting to be found. The only ones capable of such a feat are ourselves, and the Alliance of Heroic Champions. If they find him, he gets Lodestar. If we find him, he’s going to wish the AHC had. Either way, won’t be much of an issue.”
